Subjects’ initial positions, exposure to varying opinions, and the risky shift

Abstract

High and low risktakers listened to contrived tape-recorded discussions in which group norms supported either high-, medium-, or low-risk positions. Changes in own risk preferences and in the perception of others’ risk preferences varied with information exposure and initial risk proneness. Ss who heard views similar to their own did not shift in their judgments, whereas those who heard riskier positions than their own shifted toward risk, and those who heard more cautious positions than their own shifted toward caution. The implications of these results for the risk-as-value and the reference group hypotheses are discussed.